LESLIE: Alright, now we’ve got Joe in Massachusetts who is finding some cracks in the foundation. Tell us about the problem.
JOE: No, I just – what I’d like to know is – I do have some cracks in my foundation; they’re not major but I did put on a two-car garage and also a Florida room on my house. And I was wondering about cracks in the foundation.
TOM: Well, if you added laterally to the house – in other words, you didn’t put a second story on or something like that – I doubt that adding the garage on or the Florida room caused these cracks to occur.
JOE: Yeah.
TOM: Cracks do form over time in masonry foundations; usually because moisture gets in there, Joe, and the foundations will either expand and crack or, if you have a lot of water that pools around the foundation area, you can get some settlement. So if these are minor cracks – would you consider them hairline?
JOE: Right, exactly.
TOM: Well, if they’re minor cracks, then it’s very, very typical of you to have those in foundations. If sometimes they crack so much that you can see through them – perhaps if it’s part of the wall that goes through to the other side of the garage or something of that nature – you could always caulk them with a silicone caulk. But minor foundation cracks are pretty typical and not much to worry about.
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